The Harry Wood Gallery has housed and showcases many different variety of work. This time the gallery displays the work of Thad Trubakoff and his Thesis Exhibition. Thad continues his goal to blur the lines between artist, engineer, inventor and scientist in the art world, with this displayed creation. As a person who is familiar with the engineering industry, I have always been intrigued with technological work such as this and seeing concepts of art expand in many directions.

                Thad has created many unique creations before. Using his talent as a woodworker to conceive and create many different inventions that display his vision as an artist and architect. To sum up his work, it is the art of utilizing his engineering, architectural, and science abilities to invent unique and thought provoking inventions. These inventions are argued to be considered art for their unique look as well as the time and effort put to make these creations. Thad’s Thesis is an extension to his work as an artist.

                Thad’s thesis is clearly defined as part performance, part installation, and all exploration. The main attraction of the gallery is easily the large scale-like object at the center. A massive structure that is supposed to give in after an allotted time. I can only fathom at how long it took to actually create this construct, but also the amount of measurements and precision required to put it together. The other factor to note is how the gallery is constantly being added to as the week it is showcased goes by. More and more we see of this theory. It is clear the direction the theory is going but the question remains what will ultimately occur at the end. This is excellent as we get a clear idea of the point of the structure will can still be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

                I believe Thad’s thesis expedition succeeds in what it is intending to do. The creation is utilizing and combining the best of the many fields Thad represents and it shows the greatness of exploration to learn more. Art can represent so many things, and it is comforting to know that there are artists out there who want to constantly explore the endless boundaries of what is art.

                I enjoy people who like to explore art in different ways. The thesis exhibition is a wonderful craftsmanship that explores many great concepts at once. It explores the best of many area of expertise and does so in a firm way. The art is less about the construct  itself and more of just the idea and effort put in to making it. 

1) What was your favorite part or software program of this class?


              Photoshop, it was a lot of fun to learn to use and see what can be done.


2) What was your least favorite part or software program of this class?


              Illustrator, probably because we didn't spend to much time with it.


3) What part or program of this class will you continue to use in your artwork?


             Adobe Premiere Pro, The video editing tools available from it are extremely useful and give me ideas.


4) What was your favorite piece of artwork you made in this class?


                I would like to say the video project, but I encountered many anomalies that kept me from acquiring my original vision for the project and it frustrated me a few times. So, my favorite is my photoshop art of being lost in one's own mind, I had a deep satisfaction of creating something that represents something I often do.


5) What was your favorite piece of artwork made by someone else in the class? 


                Sean Sheridan's Trojan checkers, it was just masterful work.


6) If you could change a part of the project assignments or part of this class what would it be?


                Maybe separate the sound project from the animation project. Although it was great to put sound in my animation, I wouldn't mind exploring sound art on its own.

Joan Jonas

Bill Viola

Bonus: the art of video game reactions

Looking and reading over several reviews from the Art in America website and the Art news website I prefer the writing style of Art in America. Art news has good writing format in their reviews, but they don't actually begin talking about their review till the last paragraph, making the actual review feel too brief. The other website gets right into and feels more in depth analysis of the gallery, because of that. It's more just the review rather than an introduction then brief history then review.

USC annually has its music school and its art school to come together and produce sound art. The students would create unique and interesting instruments that lead to interesting take on sound and music. My personal favorite from the video is easily the "Barrel-A-Fine." It can be really intriguing to see how creative people can get in sound art.

Although the video itself is simply a comedy video based of a video game, the actual idea of the video is an interesting take on sound art. The idea is to take prerecorded sounds then implement those sounds in a way so that they are a musical instrument together. In this case every piece of percussion in the drum set played the unique sound of a character's pre-recorded sound instead of the usual sounds that drums make. The result is a new way to look at sound and a hilarious video.

I would like to visit the Harry Wood Gallery, here at ASU and see the New Graduate Student Exhibition. It will be very interesting to see the many different artists coming from here. I imagine there will be lots of variety and unique work to be seen.

The location is in a place that I know and the cost of seeing it is free. This is all the more reasons why this even would be a good idea for me to visit. 

A simple animation created by Esteban Diacono, that involves a smoke trail dancing to the music. It's a simple, yet wonderful light show that provoke interesting thoughts to the viewer.

Though filled with cruel humor, This trailer for the video game Team Fortress 2, is a good example to characters that meets the eye. The video was also created by the company's own video editor, available to the public.

While watching an episode of Art 21, it featured an artist named Rackstraw Downes. He is considered to be a realist painter, though interestingly enough Downes does not like that term. Born in England, Rackstraw enjoys painting the environment around him, with a feeling of broad expanses on the landscape.  Hes has done paintings of several locations including New York, Maine, and Texas. 

In the episode, he talks about how he wants to leave his emotions out of the drama from his paintings and that his emotion should only be that of respect. I feel that this man does an interesting job in showing the art and wonderful sight of the landscapes he sees and paints. He does not use any photography and will continuously go over any area until they match the look of the area, including shadows. He is constantly wants to improve his art and looks for ways he could've done differently, such as painting at location A and noticing the potential of painting at location B.   

The first artist I found that manipulate photos is a man named Cristophe Gilbert. He is a Belgian photographer who is well recognized and received in the advertising world. Known for giving great attention to the smallest details, He has done work for DDB, Euro RSCG, FCB, Ikea, Mercedes, Playstation, and so much more. 

A second artist is Erick Almas. Orginally from Norway, but based in San Francisco. Erick is often praised for his surrealistic style in his images. Created several advertisements for several major companies including Nike, Microsoft, Toyota, and American Airlines.